Tuesday, 30 June 2009

I Nuovi Experience

Last Sunday, my buddy Mag from Makeupstash.com and I were hosted by the lovely folks at I Nuovi at their Suntec City store. Over the course of two hours, Bob Mubarak, the I Nuovi corporate trainer, introduced their product range to us and patiently answered our truckload of questions. I enjoyed the session immensely as Bob was the kind of extremely easy-going, friendly makeup artist with a great sense of humor who instantly puts you at ease and never talks down to you or preaches certain makeup 'rules'. His product knowledge was fantastic as he is also involved in product development for the company.

I Nuovi was started in 1996 by a Singaporean biochemist and two Singaporean makeup artists. The latter two are no longer with I Nuovi but I Nuovi has continued to grow from strength to strength. It currently retails in 10 countries, with Hong Kong being one of its largest markets. The products are developed and manufactured in France, Japan, the Italy and Germany and are formulated to be fragrance-free, cruelty-free and non-comedogenic.

To be honest, I've never tried I Nuovi up until now but it was very interesting to learn from Bob about the history and development of the company. I was also impressed by the comprehensive line of products, which are easy to use and feature a diverse array of shades that allow you to be as creative as you wish. I Nuovi also sells some products meant for pro makeup artists, such as its Proair airburshing system which we got to play with.

I Nuovi's bestselling item is its false eyelashes, which come packaged with their own glue and can be re-used up to five times. The lashes are all made in Korea. I decided to get the Pro Lash EX03 (S$14), which is the most popular style. Figured this would come in handy for my bridal photo shoot :-)

This is the wonderful Bob explaining the Lash Bar to us!

I also picked up the Illumina Skin Illuminating Pre-makeup Base in Aura (S$48). This contains multi-reflective pearl to make your skin more glowy when used under foundation. This has a very lightweight, non-greasy texture and helped my powder foundation apply more smoothly. I liked that it did not cause my skin to get greasy quickly. Overall, the glowy effect is quite subtle and you don't have to worry about looking like a disco ball.

According to Bob, their Eyeshadow Perfecting Base (S$31) is incredibly popular in Hong Kong where some clients use it not only on their eyelids but also all over the face because they liked how it makes their makeup last. After about 10 hours of wear today, I found that there was only some light creasing at the inner corners of my eyes. The rest of my eye makeup was still creaseless and the colors had not oxidised or faded. It is comparable to my current staple, Testimo Eye Bright Up Base except the I Nuovi base is not as shimmery.

The I Nuovi staff also gave us a generous gift bag! I received the Lip Polish in Vanilla (strange name for such an intense shade), Lip Moist Lip Conditioning Treatment Balm, Cheekblush in Fashionista, Metallogy Eyeshadow in Tin and the Purify Skin Cleansing Gel.

The Lip Polish is a newly launched range of pigmented lipglosses with intense shine. It gives an intense pop of color and was quite longlasting without drying out my lips. I also liked the fact that it was not sticky and did not 'bleed' into the fine lines around my lips even after a few hours of wear.

The Cheekblush, which is available in four shades, has a similar texture to Becca's Beach Tint, very lightweight, easy to apply and blend for a natural tint of color without any stickiness.

I also highly recommend checking out the new Metallogy range of eyeshadows which was launched last fall. This has an incredibly silky, rich, almost wet-feeling texture similar to MAC Veluxe Pearl and Bobbi Brown Metallic Eye Shadows. The current range of shades is quite limited without any greens or blues but more shades will be introduced in the months to come.

Here's a pic of the Metallogy display and some other shades.

This is I Nuovi's older range of eyeshadows. The domed packaging will be phased out and replaced with a flat cover packaging for greater ease of storage.

Here's the base makeup range.

All in all, it was a very educational session and the I Nuovi staff made us feel so at home that the time just flew by. Many thanks to Mag as well for introducing me to I Nuovi!

really great that u got a go at the local brand; i don't use all that much color makeup anymore these days but i would say i nuovi is one of my go-to brands if i want some hi quality yet affordable products - can't go wrong buying from country of origin~